The file of this patent contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent with color drawings will be provided by the Patent and Trademark Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
This invention relates to wood surfaces treated to be inkjet receptive media, where the wood surface is treated in a manner that can control the spread of an ink droplet reaching the wood surface to provide a superior image graphic.
Image graphics are omnipresent in modem life. Images and data that warn, educate, decorate, entertain, advertise, etc. are applied on a variety of interior and exterior, vertical and horizontal surfaces. Nonlimiting examples of image graphics range from advertisements on walls or sides of trucks, posters that advertise the arrival of a new movie, to warning signs near the edges of stairways.
The use of thermal and piezo inkjet inks have greatly increased in recent years with accelerated development of inexpensive and efficient inkjet printers, ink delivery systems, and the like.
Thermal inkjet hardware is commercially available from a number of multinational companies, including without limitation, Hewlett-Packard Corporation of Palo Alto, Calif., U.S.A.; Encad Corporation of San Diego, Calif., U.S.A.; Xerox Corporation of Rochester, N.Y., U.S.A.; LaserMaster Corporation of Eden Prairie, Minn., U.S.A.; Mutoh Corporation and Mimaki Engineering Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. The number and variety of printers changes rapidly as printer makers are constantly improving their products for consumers. Printers are made both in desk-top size and wide format size depending on the size of the finished image graphic desired. Nonlimiting examples of popular commercial scale thermal inkjet printers are Encad""s NovaJet Pro printers and H-P""s 650C, 750C, and 2500CP printers. Nonlimiting examples of popular wide format thermal inkjet printers include H-P""s DesignJet printers.
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) markets Graphic Maker Inkjet software useful in converting digital images from the Internet, ClipArt, or Digital Camera sources into signals to thermal inkjet printers to print such image graphics.
Inkjet inks are also commercially available from a number of multinational companies such as Hewlett Packard Corporation in the four principal colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (generally abbreviated xe2x80x9cCMYKxe2x80x9d) to permit the formation of as many as 256 colors or more in the digital image.
Media for inkjet printers are also undergoing accelerated development. Because inkjet imaging techniques have become vastly popular in commercial and consumer applications, the ability to use a personal computer to print a color image on paper or other receptor media has extended from dye-based inks to pigment-based inks. And the media must accommodate that change. Pigment-based inks provide more durable images because pigment particles are contained in a dispersion before being dispensed using a thermal inkjet print head.
Inkjet printers have come into general use for wide-format electronic printing for applications, such as engineering and architectural drawings. Because of the simplicity of operation and economy of inkjet printers, this image process holds a superior growth potential promise for the printing industry to produce wide format, image on demand, presentation quality graphics.
Therefore, the components of an inkjet system used for making graphics can be grouped into three major categories:
1 Computer, software, printer with print head and plumbing components.
2 Ink.
3 Receptor medium.
The computer, software, and printer will control the size, number and placement of the ink droplets and will transport the receptor media. The ink will contain the colorant or pigments which form the image and the receptor medium provides the medium which accepts and holds the ink. The quality of the inkjet image graphic is a function of the total system. However, the composition and interaction between the ink and receptor medium is important in an inkjet system only after the ink has traversed the plumbing of the printer and been jetted through the print head without damage to either the print head or the ink.
Image quality is what the viewing public and paying customers will want and demand to see. For the producer of the image graphic, many other obscure demands are also placed on the inkjet media/ink system from the print shop. Also, exposure to the environment can place additional demands on the media and ink (depending on the application of the graphic).
When the inkjet ink drop contacts the receptor medium, a combination of two things occur. The inkjet drop diffuses vertically into the medium and diffuses horizontally along the receptor surface, with a resulting spread of the dot.
Efforts to produce efficient ink receptor media have concentrated on paper or polymeric films because such materials are thin enough to be moved through inkjet printers and because the cost of such media is inexpensive relative to the image being produced and the end use of the media, such as temporary advertisements, personal computer color printed sheets, and the like.
However, natural wood surfaces, as distinguished from paper, can become suitable inkjet receptor media if one desires the increase the value of the underlying receptor media for a more permanent usage than found with paper or polymeric inkjet receptor media. But, coatings used for paper or plastic films unduly affect the natural wood surfaces. Such coatings would mar the natural appearance of the wood surface, including the grain of the wood, its natural color, fibrous texture, and the like.
This invention solves the problems encountered with using wood surfaces as inkjet receptor media by preparing and treating such wood surfaces to accept inkjet inks. This invention has utility for the production of inkjet image graphics on natural wood surfaces using conventional inkjet printers and conventional inkjet inks. As such, a completely new inkjet receptor medium can be available for selection by graphic artists to expand the usage of digital inkjet imaging to new markets and industries that use natural wood surfaces for presentation of information, ornamentation, and the like.
One aspect of the invention is an inkjet receptor medium comprising a natural wood surface having applied thereto an image fixing agent comprising an organo-metallic complex of a hydrophobic fatty acid coordinated with a halogenated trivalent chromium.
Another aspect of the invention is a method of preparing and treating a wood surface to become an inkjet receptor medium, comprising preparing the wood surface to receive an image fixing agent and treating the wood surface with the image fixing agent, wherein the image fixing agent comprises an organo-metallic complex of a hydrophobic fatty acid coordinated with a halogenated trivalent chromium.
Another aspect of the invention is an image graphic comprising an inkjet receptor medium having a wood surface as described above and an image formed of inkjet ink.
A feature of the invention is the retention of substantially all desirable properties of the wood surface while adding the benefit of it being capable of receiving an inkjet ink image therein and thereon without horizontal diffusion that could distort the inkjet image on the expensive wood surface.
Another feature of the invention is the ability to employ wood surfaced materials, such as veneers, to receive inkjet images in the substantially the same manner as employed by digital image graphic artists with paper or polymeric receptor media.
An advantage of the invention is the ability to create digital image graphics on a wood surface so that
(1) such wood surface can mimic expensive woods for lamination on to less expensive woods,
(2) such wood surface can create a customized digital image on natural wood surfaces, providing new decorating and interior design possibilities to users of digital inkjet printers, whether such users are ultimate home consumers or industrial operations in the building or home improvement industries, and
(3) such wood surface can provide a more durable inkjet receptor medium for new applications of inkjet imaging where the natural grain and fibrous texture of wood is desired.
Another advantage is the ability of one skilled in the art to finish the imaged wood surface in the same manner as employed for the unimaged wood surface.
Other features and advantages will be explained in relation to the following embodiments of the invention.